Memory: Learning, Memory And Forgetting

Front 1

Iconic memory

Back 1

A sensory store that holds visual information for approximately 500 milliseconds or perhaps somewhat longer.

Front 2

Echoic memory

Back 2

A sensory store that holds auditory information for approximately two seconds.

Front 3

Chunks or chunking

Back 3

Stored units formed from integrating smaller pieces of information.

Front 4

Central executive

Back 4

A modality-free, limited capacity, component of working memory.

Front 5

Phonological loop

Back 5

A component of working memory in which speech-based information is processed and stored and sub vocal articulation occurs.

Front 6

Visuo-spatial sketchpad

Back 6

A component of working memory used to process visual and spatial information and to store this information briefly.

Front 7

Episodic buffer

Back 7

A component of working memory; it is essentially passive and stores integrated information briefly.

Front 8

Articulatory suppression

Back 8

Rapid repetition of a simple sound (eg. "the the the") which uses the articulatory control process of the phonological loop.

Front 9

Phonological similarity effect

Back 9

The finding that immediate serial recall of verbal material is reduced when the items sound similar.

Front 10

Word-length effect

Back 10

The finding that verbal memory span decreases when longer words are presented.

Front 11

Visual cache

Back 11

According to Logie, the part of the visuo-spatial sketchpad that stores information about visual form and colour.

Front 12

Inner scribe

Back 12

According to Logie, the part of the visuo-spatial sketchpad dealing with spatial and movement information.

Front 13

Executive processes

Back 13

Processes that organise and coordinate the functioning of the cognitive system to achieve current goals.

Front 14

Stroop task

Back 14

A task on which participants have to name the ink colours in which colour words are printed; performance is slowed when the to-be-named colour (eg. RED).

Front 15

Dysexecutive syndrome

Back 15

A condition in which damage to the frontal lobes causes impairments to the central executive component of working memory.

Front 16

Working memory span

Back 16

An assessment of how much information can be processed and stored at the same time; individuals with high capacity have higher intelligence and more attentional control.

Front 17

Reading span

Back 17

The largest number of sentences read for comprehension from which an individual can recall all the final words over 50% of the time.

Front 18

Operation span

Back 18

The maximum number of items (arithmetical questions & words) for which an individual can recall all the words more than 50% of the time.

Front 19

Crystallised intelligence

Back 19

The ability to use knowledge, skills and experience.

Front 20

Explicit memory

Back 20

Memory that involves conscious recollection of information.

Front 21

Implicit memory

Back 21

Memory that does not depend on conscious recollection.

Front 22

Distinctiveness

Back 22

This characterises memory traces that are distinct or different from other memory traces stored in long-term memory.

Front 23

Testing effect

Back 23

The finding that long-term memory is enhanced when some of the learning period is devoted to retrieving information to be learned rather than simply studying it.

Front 24

Implicit learning

Back 24

Learning complex information without conscious awareness of what has been learned.

Front 25

Process-dissociation procedure

Back 25

On learning tasks, participants try to guess the next stimulus (inclusion condition) or avoid guessing the next stimulus accurately (exclusion condition); the difference between the two conditions indicates the amount of explicit learning.

Front 26

Serial reaction time task

Back 26

Participants on this task respond as rapidly as possible to stimuli typically presented in a repeating sequence; it is used to assess implicit learning.

Front 27

Parkinson's disease

Back 27

A progressive disorder involving damage to the basal ganglia; the symptoms include muscle rigidity, limb tremor and mask-like facial expression.

Front 28

Savings method

Back 28

A measure of forgetting introduced by Ebbinghaus in which the number of trials for relearning is compared against the number for original learning.

Front 29

Synaesthesia

Back 29

The tendency for one to sense modality to evoke another.

Front 30

Proactive interference

Back 30

Disruption of memory by previous learning (often of similar materials).

Front 31

Retroactive interference

Back 31

Disruption of memory for previously learned information by other learning or processing occurring during the retention interval.

Front 32

Repression

Back 32

Motivated forgetting of traumatic or other threatening events (especially from childhood).

Front 33

Recovered memories

Back 33

Childhood traumatic memories forgotten for several years and then remembered in adult life.

Front 34

Directed forgetting

Back 34

Reduced long-term memory caused by instructions to forget information that had been presented for learning.

Front 35

Encoding specificity principle

Back 35

The notion that retrieval depends on the overlap between the information available at retrieval and the information in the memory trace.

Front 36

Consolidation

Back 36

A physiological process involved in establishing long-term memories; this process lasts several hours or more and newly formed memories are fragile.

Front 37

Retrograde amnesia

Back 37

Impaired ability of amnesic patients to remember information and events from the time period prior to the onset of amnesia.

Front 38

Reconsolidation

Back 38

This is a new consolidation process that occurs when a previously formed memory trace is reactivated; it allows that memory trace to be updated.